The United States Olympic Committee has officially announced that it will not make any bids for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, instead looking to focus on the Summer Olympics in 2024, or the Winter Olympics in 2026.

“It’s not so much about bidding for 2022 as what strategy gives us the best chance to submit a winning bid,” CEO Scott Blackmun said. “Looking at 2024 and 2026 gives us the best chance to do that. It allows us to form partnerships with all the people who need to be involved in a bid. That would allow us to put our best foot forward.” (via Tahoe Daily Tribune)

Denver and Lake Tahoe had already put together exploratory committees to examine the logistics of hosting the 2022 games…but now, its all a moot point. The idea of bidding on the 2022 Olympics at all, only became a reality when the USOC resolved a long-standing dispute it had with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over revenue sharing. That dispute, and the USOC’s poor reputation internationally were largely to blame for Chicago’s last place result when the IOC voted on potential cities for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The USOC’s decision to not bid on the 2022 games ensures that the United States will go at least 22 years without hosting a Winter or Summer Olympic games; Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002. That being said, the USOC is focused on bringing the Games back to America at some point,

“We think hosting the Games is very important for us,” CEO Scott Blackmun said.

If the USOC is serious about having the Games come back to the U.S., skipping the 2022 Olympics may have been a prudent decision. Bids for those Games are due in the fall of 2013.